Zimbabwe’s Minister of Mines Winston Chitando has said that the signing of a joint venture agreement between ALROSA and the government-owned Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) is “imminent” and the Russian miner “would soon start operations” in the country, according to a report in the Zimbabwe-based website of The Independent.

The minister has been quoted as saying, “The location and size as well as the value of the investment will be announced at the signing ceremony before the end of June”.

As reported earlier, ALROSA and Chinese miner Anjin Investments were the only two overseas companies given permission by the government to start diamond mining operations in Zimbabwe.

Media reports state that Anjin has already begun operating in the Chiadzwa diamond fields, but ALROSA, which has opened a subsidiary office in Zimbabwe in December 2018, was still in discussions with the government.

The Independent also quoted Alrosa public relations officer Yang Yushina as saying that “currently we are negotiating on the terms of a joint venture with the ZCDC state-owned diamond mining company in Zimbabwe”.

Yushina was also reported to have said that ALROSA was keen on developing long-term plans for the country and had identified a preliminary list of areas for which it was interested in obtaining exploration licences. However, details of these could be revealed “only after solving key cooperation issues with Zimbabwean partners”.

Reports in the media a few months ago had quoted sources as saying that ALROSA was keen to have a majority stake in any JV in Zimbabwe.